Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan why Bangladesh elected to bowl first against India despite being the batting first is the trend in this year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies.

Bangladesh lost to India by 50 runs on Saturday (22nd June) in Antigua. India posted a massive 196 on the board earlier on. Hardik Pandya's breezy fifty, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube and Virat Kohli's mid 30's helped them get to this huge total. For Bangladesh, Tanzim Hasan Sakib bowled an exceptional spell but other bowlers leaked away too many runs on the decent surface in Antigua. In reply, India were excellent with the ball and Jasprit Bumrah once again stood tall, with Kuldeep Yadav showed his masterful bowling display to beat Bangladesh.

Bangladesh also started with the spinners in the powerplay- Mahedi Hasan and Shakib. Shakib also explains the reason behind this. However, Shakib went for too many runs in his 2 overs of powerplay. “That’s difficult for me to explain. It’s coach and captain’s decision, they make the decisions whom to bowl, when to bowl. So it’s hard for me to explain. But what I can understand we thought the wicket would be little slower. It looked little dark, maybe at the start of the game. So, that’s why they thought there might be some help for the spinners. So, that’s why I think captain decided to go with these spinners,” Shakib said.

“It was a very good batting wicket, that’s what I’ll say. I think, in middle overs, here in the Caribbean, bowling as a spinner, little easier than bowling in the powerplay. Because with the new ball, every team looks to capitalize the powerplay because as soon as the ball gets older and softer, it gets difficult for us.”

Shakib adds that they had a total in their head in which they wanted to restrict India, that’s why they chose to field first. “If you ask me, in Caribbean, I think in one or two games, when England chased 180. I think other than that, batting first has been the trend for most of the teams and they have been very successful. So, if you look at the stats, I think ideally you would have batted first but maybe captain or coach thought otherwise and we though we would restrict them in a reasonable total. So, there was a score in our head and we knew how we should go about. Maybe that’s the reason we decided to bowl first,” Shakib further said.